Contraception mandate floods W.H. petition site

2/9/12 5:23 PM EST

Dueling petitions on the We the People website, the Obama administration's petition and citizen engagement platform, have drawn nearly 50,000 signatures on the controversial decision to require religious employers to cover birth control.

The petition calling for the mandate to be rescinded passed the 25,000 threshold that triggers an answer from the Obama administration, and the other petition telling the White House to stand strong in support of the new birth control policy is a few thousand signatures away from the same goal, with more than 21,000 already gathered. Petitions need to garner 25,000 signatures within 30 days to get an official response.